Technical Field
This disclosure relates to optical shape sensing instruments and more particularly to a lumen for use with shape sensing optical fibers which protects and permits rotation of the optical fibers.
Description of the Related Art
Optical shape sensing (OSS) uses light along a multicore optical fiber for device localization and navigation during surgical intervention. Shape sensing based on fiber optics exploits the inherent backscatter in a conventional optical fiber. The principle involved makes use of distributed strain measurement in the optical fiber using characteristic Rayleigh backscatter or controlled grating patterns.
Integrating an optical shape sensing fiber into a medical device can provide localization information for use during navigation inside the body. Many interventional devices have small cross-sectional footprints that limit the amount of space available for including an optical fiber. In addition, the manner in which the fiber is integrated into the device can affect both the performance of the OSS and the device.
Optical fiber used to perform a shape sensing measurement may be integrated into the medical device such that traditional performance of that device is unaltered. Limited space within a footprint of a device also makes it challenging to integrate the optical fiber. OSS may use a calculation of strain along a multi-core optical fiber to reconstruct the shape along the fiber. As such, the shape stability and reconstruction accuracy are susceptible to changes in tension, twist, vibration, and pinching. Integrating this technology into interventional devices used in a dynamic environment, such as that of vascular navigation, can cause significant degradation of OSS performance